In the Second World War a young Erik Lehnsherr is separated from his mother in a German work camp when a Dr. Klaus Schmidt takes interest in his remarkable ability to bend metal to his will. Isolating him to work on his powers, Schmidt kills Lehnsherr’s mother right in front of the boy when he realizes he is unable to control his powers on command. Meanwhile in America, a similarly young Charles Xavier finds a blue-skinned runaway named Raven stealing food from his kitchen and takes her in to live with him. These events mark the first step in the development and eventual founding of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and The X-Men, but not before setting in motion a winding story that weaves itself into the events of the Cold War in the 1960’s.
Coming out of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I felt I was pretty much finished with the X-Men films. Besides the fact that I hated the movie from beginning to end, Wolverine essentially failed because there wasn’t a story to tell. The trilogy, for what it’s worth, handled the major themes of the X-Men universe very well and left little room for expansion without redundancy which, coupled with Wolverine’s failure, left me a little sceptical and a lot more anxious about the rumoured Magneto Origins treatment that was in the works. Apparently that project evolved into X-Men: First Class when a revision to the script delved more into the origins of the X-Men as a whole and that is a move that I (and millions of others evidently) couldn’t be happier with, because the result is a much more worthwhile experience. First Class takes a while to get into the meat of its story but when it does it gets much more interesting than any of its predecessors. The relationship between Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is probably the last drop of substance to be drawn from the well of the X-Men universe and it is truly a fascinating friendship. Thinly veiled as the metaphor is, the Malcolm X/Martin Luther King-based figureheads of Lehnsherr and Xavier form a compelling ethical standoff, made all the more immediate by their friendship and inevitable falling out. The audience is already aware of the outcome of this relationship as well, having seen the previous trilogy, which gives the whole doomed situation a bittersweet sense of poignancy and foreboding.
Another smart move is to have the story so steadfastly wound to American history. While the previous films never felt entirely like fantasy there was an element of distance to those American people we saw throughout the trilogy that never felt altogether genuine. The government particularly felt like the exaggerated gruff, paranoid stereotypes we’ve seen in countless other films of any era. Not a problem for the original movies, but without a time-specific landmark to tether your story to, the audience’s sense of history in the scope of the cinematic X-Men universe could be lost. A great way to remedy this and establish a believable timeline is to work in real (and hopefully relevant) historic events and figures the audience can use as a reference point. It also provides a more layered story that involves real world events, making the development of the narrative more impactful (and I’m a sucker for those Forrest Gump moments when a fictional character affects actual history. I drool over the opening credits for Watchmen).
Matthew Vaughn, of Kick-Ass fame, directs First Class with style. The camerawork is flashy, the colours are vibrant and the action sequences are powerful. It feels totally different from the trilogy upon which it’s based. While the X-Men movies previously tried to place the extraordinary in the real world, First Class is more concerned with heightening reality to the hyper-sensory level of the characters themselves. It’s refreshing and punchy, setting itself apart from its precursors as well as the onslaught of Avengers movies it finds itself nested between. The roster of X-Men this time around is more appropriate as well, feeling a lot more concise and well-selected. Instead of trying to fill out the attendance list with as many characters as possible, First Class keeps the numbers down to a tolerable extent, and for the most part makes good use of those selected. Yes, the movie takes huge liberties with the story canon, playing around with the timeline and throwing in characters that were never around at the beginning of the X-Men, but I would argue that all of these changes were made to benefit the story; Mystique particularly is a welcome addition to the origin story, as she serves as one of the better channels for the movie’s major thematic elements and becomes a far more interesting character to be caught in the middle of the moral tug-of-war between Xavier and Lehnsherr than Rogue ever was.
First Class may claim to be about the founding of the X-Men but really, this is a movie owned by the development of Erik Lehnsherr into Magneto. Michael Fassbender shines, taking control of what should be an ensemble cast and making it his own. It’s probably too late to call it, after his awesome performance here and great roles in movies like Inglourious Basterds and 300, but I’m going to say it anyway: Michael Fassbender is a guy to watch. If he is indeed cast in the upcoming Tarantino project, Django Unchained, he very well could explode. The rest of the cast still boasts some great talent, with James McAvoy in the role of Charles Xavier and Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique, and despite all the super-flashy sensory overload the young actors do a fantastic job of bringing the audience into the story.
X-Men: First Class is a movie I initially wrote off as another re-hashing of a franchise we’d seen the end of, but don’t allow yourself to make that same mistake. First Class is a lively, fun summer blockbuster that you shouldn’t miss. It’s unfortunate but interesting that the ethical themes to the X-Men still hold water and remain relevant today, even as we try to bury prejudice under metric tons of political correctness. However, we can always take solace in the fact that Rupert Grint has evidently taken the stage name ‘Caleb Landry Jones’ in order to separate himself from the Harry Potter franchise and fly around in a bright yellow flight-suit.
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